Zion View Ella

... to build back up the turtle population because they are an endangered species. The local fishermen who are really poor steal the eggs and sell them for food. They try and save as many eggs themselves and also buy the eggs from the fishermen to try and hatch them rather than eat them. They used to have a much bigger farm but when the tsunami hit it all got destroyed as well as the fact that all the turtles got swept away and the only ones found were dead.

Next we headed ...

... met some local fellas. They invited us for a drink so we bought some local Arraqck spirit and sat down in a local restaurant. We chatted about cricket and culture for a number of hours before the lads started putting the ************ us to go with them on tours and buy tickets off them. At this point Callan and I laughed and decided to call it a night, either way we’d had fun and got to know some locals on a balmy, starry evening in northern Sri Lanka (even ...

... children on the bus, who all wanted to sit by us and just sat there smiling at us! We were then practically pushed off the bus to get on the passing "bus" which would take us to our destination, Dalhousie. No room for our bags, so they were launched on to the roof unsecured and we were shoved in to the 21 seater with around 50 other people! Andrew was too tall for the van so ...

... all the tourism (there are still hawkers though) and buildings. You definitely notice how much cleaner the streets are in Sri Lanka compared to India when riding the bus around. Just as all the other small towns that depend on tourism, the small downtown was just as desolate and empty. At least in Adam's Peak they get the locals that come into town for the trek to the top of the mountain. It was really hard to find food that wasn't cooked in a ...

... I arrived I took a short hike, about 3 km, to Little Adam's Peak. The real Adam's Peak you'll hear about in a later blog entry. It was a nice hike through the small town and through a tea plantation with beautiful views as a reward. The next day I walked down the mountain about 6 km to Rawana Ella Falls. Not the most impressive waterfall I've ever seen, but the walk ...

... to rip off tourists. We wouldn't have been surprised to encounter a giant leek growing competition. Leeks must be the most important crop after tea and they are clearly cheap since they are served with everything. Being a typically English village the local station is several miles away which means running the usual gauntlet of taxi and tuk-tuk drivers but they are of a superior type here, superior at least in the quality of their approach. There was ...

... all perched on really steep hills. It looked exactly how i had imagined it. So scenic - many waterfalls too! Lank in its natural beauty. Coming around some stretches of the mountains you could see the cloud start to roll in over the hills - it was like it was engulfing it. We eventually made it to Mandrel where we hopped off and met our van to take us the short distance to the New Chinese ...

... of elk on the way out of the park. And during my 3 and a half hour hike, I only saw about 10 other people, which made for a pretty peaceful morning. There's a little museum at the start of the trails with some interesting "facts"; my favourite was the one about a British officer, Major Thomas Rogers, who was responsible for killing about 1400 elephants (they no longer roam Horton Plains), and who was killed by a bolt of lightning... and ...

... 200 miles! Driving in Sri Lanka is quite the test of nerves. I think I've got the chaotic rules and pecking order (buses rule the road) figured out but I must say that you can't let your guard down for a moment! I've come so close to either hitting or being hit by so many vehicles and animals that I've lost count. Still though, I don't think it would be any less stressful with someone else driving! I'm sure Katie will have some interesting comments to add as well ...

... after the British took Sri Lanka as its colony in 1818. Coffee was originally the main crop (tea and rubber second and third), but after coffee became susceptible to a local pest, the farmers started cultivating tea as the primary cash crop. The hill country tea plantations have a much deeper history than simply providing a nice afternoon pick-me-up. In the 1800's the Sinhalese would ...